sharp_as_knives | Phoenix Place and environs, Saturday afternoon

The day Hannibal had been anxious enough (thanks to that odd crystal) to plan even further ahead than usual, he had contacted some people about possible residences on the island. This week, he had heard back from them about a place becoming available.

His first instinct had been to thank them politely and ignore it. But he'd been caught up in an FBI investigation at the time, and their voicemail had gone unanswered. Now, with Bedelia having stepped away and Will playing an unknown game, well. It could never hurt to be prepared, could it. After all, it wasn't as if his finances couldn't bear another house, even if it weren't on this island with its ridiculously cheap real estate.

Besides, even were he not to need it long-term, someplace more secure and private than the hotel might be nice, in event of being stuck here during more...enthusiastic invasions.

So, he had come out to look at the place, which he'd only strolled past before.

He wasn't sure which would have to go first, honestly: the regrettable "landscaping" or the horrid decor.

On second thought, no, he was perfectly sure: it was the sign over the gate proclaiming it to be "DOOMHAUS". No matter what your own name was, there was no excuse for inflicting it upon a perfectly reasonable architectural structure.

[OOC: Cut for some spoilers through Hannibal S2E2, "Sakizuke". Open for anyone who wants to catch Hannibal evaluating the environs of (the former) DOOMHAUS. Periodic SP until tonight.]

Current Location: Town

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

sharp_as_knives

"It can be difficult, being so far away from home," Hannibal offered. "Is this your first time away from them?"

From:

notamascot

Kaylin nodded. She was not at all feeling emotional or teary. She was tough. Really. She was.

"Yeah. At least since I got there. About a year and a half ago."

From:

sharp_as_knives

"It's especially difficult when you've only just settled into a home." Hannibal smiled at her completely non-transparent lack of emotion. "Can you not mirror them either?"

From:

notamascot

"And bother them at work?" Kaylin looked horrified. "Never!"

From:

sharp_as_knives

"They don't have mirrors at home?" Hannibal asked curiously. "I had assumed it was rather like our phones - ubiquitous."

From:

notamascot

"I am not bothering Marcus at the Pridlea," Kaylin said firmly. "His wives would be very angry at being disturbed if it wasn't an emergency. And, well, I don't know how to mirror Teela and Tain. They always say that if they want me they know how to find me."

She ducked her head. "Besides... do you know how they'd laugh at me if I called because I missed them? It's bad enough they all call me a mascot. Which I am not."

From:

sharp_as_knives

Hannibal made note of the fact that Kaylin's culture was polygamous, and that she seemed to have few if any real friends.

"If they care for you, they will be missing you as well," he pointed out. "But I won't press. And you seem to me very un-mascot-like, for whatever that is worth."

From:

notamascot

Just the Leontines, actually. The other races were more monogamous or at least as monogamous as humans. And no, Kaylin didn't have time for friends so much. Teela and Tain were about it and, as immortal Barrani, had already lived several human lifespans.

But, unable to read subtext, she wouldn't tell him any of this.

She did look a bit unsettled by his words. She wasn't actually sure they did care about her. For a Barrani, she'd barely existed in their world for the blink of an eye. The Hawklord might care as one did for a child, perhaps Marcus too. She was useful to the midwives and at the Foundling's guild, but did they care for her? She'd even be afraid to ask for fear of the answer.

At least he didn't see her as a mascot, thankfully, so she nodded. "Exactly. Not a mascot."

From:

sharp_as_knives

"So, no calling people at home. Have you got other reminders?" Hannibal asked. "Things you brought from home, or that remind you of it?"

From:

notamascot

She blinked at him. "Like what?"

Which you know, probably meant no. Kaylin wasn't one for carting random things around. Not that she ever had much to begin with.

From:

sharp_as_knives

That was probably a no, yes.

Hannibal shrugged as he opened the door for her. "When they leave home, some people bring a reminder with them. A memento. It can be a favorite article of clothing, or a toy from when they were a child, or a photograph of their friends or family. Do you have photographs, or something like them?"

From:

notamascot

Kaylin's face went blank and guarded. "I don't have anything from my childhood."

Not thinking, not thinking, not thinking.

"And I don't know what a photograph is."

From:

sharp_as_knives

Well, there were issues there, weren't there?

"Here." Hannibal paused in the doorway and pulled out his phone, snapped a picture of her and held it so she could see the screen. "Like this, or printed on paper. An image of a person or place is a common memento."

From:

notamascot

You have no idea, Hannibal, no idea.

"That's like a Records mirror," she said, looking at it. "I need to get one of those. Kenzi said she'd help me learn how to use one."

Kaylin shook her head. "No. We don't have those - not to carry around. And I don't know anyone real who has access to Records at her house. I don't really have anything other than clothes and my daggers. Never saw the point."

Or had the money to get them.

From:

sharp_as_knives

Hannibal nodded. "Other things can help with homesickness as well." He led the way up the stairs to his office. "We've already established that music isn't one," he noted a bit dryly but not meanly. "What about foods?"

This was Hannibal. He had his go-to subjects.

From:

notamascot

"I guess I'm not so good at this," Kaylin admitted glumly. "Food is... a means to an end back home. I've never had the kinds of food there are here. Mostly I get bread and cheese, maybe a stew or something, sometimes a fruit or maybe if I didn't bet all my money, something sweet from a baker."

She sighed. "Mostly I just think about it and miss it. And tell myself I'm lucky to have something to miss. Not everyone does."

From:

sharp_as_knives

Hannibal chuckled. "There is no right and wrong way; only things that might help. And yes, not everybody has a place to miss. If reminding yourself of what you miss is enough, then that is all you need."

He led her upstairs and to his office. "Please." He waved her toward a chair. "I have cheese, cold sausages, and some very good bread." It probably wasn't much like bread and cheese she'd have gotten back home, but it was artisanal and very good.

From:

notamascot

Kaylin considered that as she followed him up the stairs. "I'm not sure it's enough," she admitted, "but it's what I have, so it will have to do."

She made her way to the chair and sat comfortably. "Sounds like what I'd have back home. Except probably fancier and better quality."

From:

sharp_as_knives

Hannibal chuckled. "I do enjoy my comforts. I haven't always had them, so I like to make the most of them now that I do." He set about getting the food sliced and set up on the small table between the chairs.

From:

notamascot

"I can understand that," Kaylin said. "I guess for me it's well... having a place where I belong. Which is why I didn't want to come here. I'm afraid I'll lose it.'

From:

sharp_as_knives

"What reasons did they give for sending you here?" Hannibal asked. He set the food down between them and settled into the opposite chair.

From:

notamascot

She made a face. "They said I needed to buckle down and learn and that maybe if they sent me away and made learning here be a condition of becoming a Hawk that maybe I'd pay better attention to my teachers."